More and more, shoppers prefer to make purchases of products online, as opposed to purchasing from physical “brick and mortar” stores. There can be many reasons for this trend, including the time savings and convenience of shopping from home, possible savings or less taxes, ease of online product research and comparison, etc. In spite of this, however, there remains and will remain value that only physical stores can provide. For certain types of products, a shopper may wish to obtain the physical “look and feel” of the product (such as clothing, for example), see it in person, perhaps ask questions in-person, or obtain a physical showing or demonstration of the product (such as a television or home stereo, for example).
As such, in many instances, shoppers may visit a physical store that carries a product, but then buy the product online. This can have the effect of excluding the physical store from any profit, even though the physical store offered, and incurred the expenses for, the opportunity for the shopper to see the product, for example. As one result, for example, physical stores may be discouraged from carrying such products or allowing displays or demonstrations, or some physical stores may even fail. This, in turn, may result in a suboptimal overall situation, with less purchasing and less revenue, which can burden physical stores, discourage shoppers, reduce sales, etc.